Standard 2:

Teachers work collaboratively with the families and significant adults in the lives of their students. • Improve communication and collaboration between the school and the home and community; • Promote trust and understanding and build partnerships with school community; and • Seek solutions to overcome obstacles that prevent family and community involvement.

In order to establish a respectful environment for all students, I promote synergistic collaboration through discourse moves that encourage collegial conversations, discussions which also empower ELs to be active and engaged participants in their content area classes. I also do this to encourage students to practice the art with their peers in hopes that their social conversations will become academically focused and they begin to see their peers as not just social acquaintances but as a collegiate network with within which they help each other to excel.